I've been planning to sell game servers for a while. But not to sure If it's worth the investment. It would be after all a hobby (to gain experience), rather than a money making venture!

Here is the server I plan to use:

Dual QC 2.0Ghz
16GB FB-DIMM RAM
3x 500GB RAID5
4TB Network Transfer/month
Gigabit Port
The network is one of the best in the UK. (from what I've read)

My questions are:
Firstly, would this machine be suitable for running gameservers on?

Secondly would Virtualizing this machine be a advantage or disadvantage to the performance?

Thirdly, what advice would your offer for a beginner in this market?

Regards,
Daniel

are you renting or thinking of buying your own server? if you are buying your own. look into the new opeteron servers eg: 1 12 core 2.0ghz with 12mb cache can take you quite far. and 1 processor is always cheaper than 2. if your thinking of visualizing you can divide in half with 2 hex core or something along those lines.